(15-08-2012 05:51 PM)robotworld Wrote: I'm surprised by their ability to twist bullshit into facts through coating it with generous servings of strawmen and a side serving of emotional attacks. Imagine dealing with this in real life.

(15-08-2012 11:40 PM)Matthew Laramore Wrote: We do deal with it in real life, it's called Politics.

Politics, religion... I think it's called confirmation bias. People will look for any stupid reason to agree with and believe what they want to. If it sounds good, they'll find a reason to psychologically adopt it, agree with it, and believe it to be true. Likewise, they'll look for any reason to reject anything that challenges it, even if it's an outright lie or bunch of bullshit. How many people do you know REALLY stop when they hear something and go, "You know that's an interesting point. I'm going to go look that up and learn about it and I'll get back to you." because they aren't sure or don't know. How many? Most religious folks I run into are more than happy to go google search something, look up a website for purposes of confirmation bias without ever checking the sources or anything legitimate and go .... "SEE, this is the truth! I told you someone knew what I meant, yeah!"

Someone told me: "Rational people do not believe irrational things for rational reasons."

What it comes down to is whether or not people think it is more important to understand what it is true over what sounds good. Reality is not always comforting. It is not always pleasant. It is not always pretty. Sometimes it can be downright depressing. Religion for many people is the spoon full of sugar that helps the medicine go down. I mean really.... if you don't have religion as a coping mechanism, and you're a deconverted person... you may very well know as well as I do how painful coping with reality can be. It's like you crawled out of this tent full of pink fluffy bunnies and people shitting rainbows all day and suddenly you're surrounded by this harsh reality and all these harsh facts. Things aren't what you expect them to be. Then there's dealing with death, no afterlife, all these things people blew smoke up your ass about your whole life.

Telling someone to let go of people pissing rainbows and face reality is sometimes like telling a kid they have to swallow medicine that tastes like ass. They'll be a little baby about it and avoid it forever, toss themselves on the floor, pitch a fit and hope that you finally toss your hands up and go "FINE, you wanna be a little baby your whole life? BE ONE." "BUT I WANT TO BELIEVE IN FAIRIES AND MAGIC BS! IT SOUNDS GOOD! OKAY!"

That isn't the case for all religious people. But the ones I've seen who use it as a coping mechanism because they'd go batshit crazy if they dealt with reality? Yeah.

(16-08-2012 03:54 PM)Atothetheist Wrote: I don't think people need it, because there are BETTER substitutes, but I think that their world will fall apart because they think THAT EVERYTHING THEY BELIEVE IN is shattered.

It is even more sickening that people rely on such of a delusion, imagine how strong they would be if they weren't indoctrinated, or told that religion was neccessary.

Well? Go ahead, don't stop there.

Tell us what would be different without religion?
About people, that is.

“What you believe to be true will control you, whether it’s true or not.”

(16-08-2012 03:10 PM)MidnightKat Wrote: Agreed Logisch, I do feel some people NEED religion or else their world would fall apart.

I would word it more or less as some people need a coping mechanism. Religion fits the bill for many people because it often provides:

- A group support structure
- A sense of meaning
- A place to belong
- Rewards for something, usually something like eternal life or rewards for being a good person, etc.
- Set instructions that usually help you "guide" your life. Some people feel more comfortable being told what to do and panic and hate the anxiety of DIY life.

I could say the same for video games in a fashion. You join a community, it's social, you have instructions on how to play the game, you become accepted by being good at it and playing by the rules and not being a troll, etc. Some people are great at substituting reality with virtual reality, they get lost for hours. They work, come home and bury themselves in the land of polygons. They can be someone else, the world outside doesn't get to bother them.

This doesn't fit everyone, but there are a lot of people who seem to. I think all of us have met someone who seems off in their own little world and pretends like nothing really affects them and everything is all great and bubbly because of whatever it is they've substituted things with.

We are human, we're social creatures. Religions (at least the large ones) are generally very social. Huge churches, lots of people, etc. It's easy for anyone to walk into any church and have someone say "Welcome to god's house" and in you go. Never a second thought.

After all, who doesn't want to belong to something? Or feel appreciated by a community etc. And if course if you aren't part of that, you're usually not a part of that.